Laitos, Jan G.
Keske, Catherine M. H.
2011-04-13T21:20:00Z
2011-04-13T21:20:00Z
2010
25 J. ENVTL. L. & LITIG. 303 (2010)
1049-0280
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/11082
82 p.
Humankind is on a path of inefficient and unsustainable resource
use and exploitation. As a result, the earth and its resources are now
facing irreversible disruptions that have the potential to affect
multiple generations. These disastrous global effects are not only
caused by excessive resource use. Rather, accelerated human use of
resources also has the devastating consequence of impairing the
purely ecocentric benefits that follow when humans do not use
resources. When resources are left alone by humans, when they are
not exploited or developed, their nonuse is beneficial for the entire
biosphere, of which humans are only a part.
In this Article, we show how the destruction of this critical nonuse
component of natural resources is creating many of the alarming
environmental changes that are so disturbing to the planet. Then,
through a series of analytical arguments founded in economic game
theory, we illustrate that sustainable resource use can only be
achieved if legal rights are bestowed upon not just human resource
users, or humans who benefit themselves from resource nonuse, but
also upon the resource itself. We define this legal right as the
resource’s “right of nonuse.” Establishing a “right of nonuse”
effectively privatizes a resource, facilitating a cooperative game that
is between three kinds of players: human resource users, humans who
selfishly prefer resource nonuse, and the resource itself. An analysis
under this three-player game, which at last includes the natural
resource itself as a critical actor, provides a framework for moving
toward an efficient, sustainable path of resource conservation.
en_US
University of Oregon School of Law
Right of nonuse
Nonuse
Environmental law
Journal of Environmental Law & Litigation : Vol. 25, No. 2, p. 303-384 : The Right of Nonuse
The Right of Nonuse
Article